MOSCOW, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. test of a missile previously banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty proves that Washington -- not Moscow -- is responsible for burying this landmark document, the Kremlin said Tuesday.
"Such tests cannot be prepared in a few weeks or even months," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, suggesting that the United States has been nurturing plans to develop these weapons for a long time.
Peskov said that the news about the missile test came on Monday when Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron were in a meeting.
Peskov recalled that Putin noted at a joint press conference that it was not Russia that abandoned the INF Treaty unilaterally.
On Monday, the Pentagon said in a statement that the United States tested a new ground-based conventional cruise missile which can hit a target more than 500 km (310 miles) from the launch site.
The INF Treaty, which had banned land-based missiles with a range of 500 km (310 miles)to 5,500 km (3,410 miles), ceased to operate on Aug. 2 after the United States and Russia accused each other of violating it.
